The Benedictine University football team did not trail in posting a 38-7 win over visiting Concordia Chicago on Saturday, using all three facets.
Benedictine wasted no time in taking the lead during a game that saw most of the scoring happen early. Marching down the field following the opening kickoff, Phillip Jacobs connected with
Alex Siebens on a 31-yard touchdown to make the score 7-0 less than three minutes into the game. Concordia Chicago immediately responded to tie the game but a huge kickoff return from
Santino Florio set up the go-ahead field goal.
Leonidas Gamino booted home a 31-yarder to give Benedictine the lead for good at 10-7 with 4:53 left in the opening quarter. After forcing a quick three-and-out, Benedictine pushed the margin to 17-7 when Jacobs found
Tristan Weglarz for a two-yard score. The score was aided by a 41-yard rush from Florio.
Nick Irion opened the second quarter by intercepting a pass and returning it 42 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 24-7 with 14:48 left in the half. Following a three-and-out, Florio got into the act again, returning a punt 43 yards for a highlight reel score to hand Benedictine a 31-7 advantage with 12:55 left in the half. Neither team scored again until Benedictine grinded the clock down late in the fourth.
Jack Moses finished a 12-play drive by lunging into the endzone with just 2:28 to play.
Benedictine finished the balanced effort with 301 yards of offense, tallying 115 on the ground and 186 through the air along with over 150 yards on returns. Jacobs completed nine passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Dino Stephens ran for 58 yards on 11 carries while Florio added 57 on the ground on four rushing attempts. Weglarz reeled in six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown. Florio finished with 108 yards on two returns while also adding 11 yards receiving to his rushing line, finishing with nearly 200 all-purpose yards. The defense held Concordia Chicago to just 212 total yards.
Jake Diamantos and
John Thompson both posted 11 stops to pace the defense, which also recorded three sacks including 1.5 from
Jack Hayden.Hayden logged nine tackles including 3.5 for loss.
Benedictine (7-2, 5-2 NACC) ends the season next week at home on Senior Day against Wisconsin Lutheran.
